Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO of Indiagames and MD, Digital of Disney UTV today quit the company. He will move on from the company to pursue his passion of being an entrepreneur.
His last working day will be June 30. Sameer Ganapathy, who was earlier handling distribution for the media networks business of Disney UTV, will now take on the business function for the digital arm of Disney UTV.
Gondal, one of the pioneers of the digital gaming industry in India, founded Indiagames way back in 1999. The company, which had investors such as Infinity, IL&FS, TOM Online, Adobe, Cisco backing it during its early days was later acquired by UTV in 2006. Indiagames became a part of Disney India when UTV acquired Disney. Gondal, in his personal capacity has been investing in several start-ups.
The Digital team of Disney UTV combines all mobile, video, audio, broadband, ITV, games and virtual world’s initiatives and has a combined audience reach of over 300 million in India. All digital content across all brands namely Disney, Marvel, UTV, Indiagames, Bindass including original content for web and mobile and games will be developed and managed by this team.
“Vishal has been a great founder and CEO for Indiagames. As we consolidate the digital, mobile and web play for Disney UTV in India, we plan to build on our creative prowess and transform the digital business to be a direct to consumer, yet working closely with all our partners, telecom operators, OEM’s and others.
This is similar to our approach in our other verticals of movies, broadcasting and consumer products. Sameer Ganapathy brings an astute business sense and high resourcefulness to this position, which is key to meet the ever growing trajectory of the digital business in India”, said Ronnie Screwvala, MD – Disney UTV.
“Indiagames had small beginnings but a big dream. I cannot help but look back with a tremendous sense of fulfilment & pride, upon the long, eventful & exciting journey. I am really proud of what the team has accomplished. Excellent support from our early investors Infinity, IL&FS, TOM Online, Adobe, Cisco & UTV & the subsequent acquisition by Walt Disney provided us the opportunity to work towards our vision of making gaming big in India. Over last 18 months, we have spent time integrating the teams & set a platform for continued growth. Consequently, I’ve decided to move on to pursue my dreams & passion of being an entrepreneur”, said Gondal.
This is similar to our approach in our other verticals of movies, broadcasting and consumer products. Sameer Ganapathy brings an astute business sense and high resourcefulness to this position, which is key to meet the ever growing trajectory of the digital business in India”, said Ronnie Screwvala, MD – Disney UTV.
“Indiagames had small beginnings but a big dream. I cannot help but look back with a tremendous sense of fulfilment & pride, upon the long, eventful & exciting journey. I am really proud of what the team has accomplished. Excellent support from our early investors Infinity, IL&FS, TOM Online, Adobe, Cisco & UTV & the subsequent acquisition by Walt Disney provided us the opportunity to work towards our vision of making gaming big in India. Over last 18 months, we have spent time integrating the teams & set a platform for continued growth. Consequently, I’ve decided to move on to pursue my dreams & passion of being an entrepreneur”, said Gondal.
